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Now that we’re back in the United States and more importantly, into the regular season, making the team’s travel arrangements is a lot less taxing. For the most part, once the regular season begins, MLB’s 30 traveling secretaries rely on a well-established network of trusted hotels, tested bus and equipment truck companies, and reliable charter providers.

We use professional companies that are loyal to us (i.e. they provide us with the best service) and we remain loyal to them. This is not to say however that we do not welcome the new hotel, the new bus company or the new private charter company to attract our attention.Word travels quickly amongst our group — for the most part through e-mail — as we exchange thoughts and ideas on such topics as, the hot hotel or the bus company’s latest blunder.

When charged with making the arrangements for a professional baseball team, one must rely on the most top-notch companies to get the job done every time as there is no marginfor error.

Here’s today’s lineup (this came from Joe, not Scott)

Furcal, SS

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Kent, 2B

Ethier, RF

Jones, CF

DeWitt, 3B

Pierre, LF

Loaiza, P

Also, in response to the question about the broadcast from Friday, Vin Scully was feeling a little under the weather, so we did not simulcast those three innings as usual. If he’s doing TV and radio, he obviously has to talk a lot more because the listeners can’t see a screen. So, Rick and Charley did all nine innings on radio on Friday and then again on Saturday, when FOX did the game. By yesterday, all was back to normal and should be again today.

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Josh… something is up with this blog site. Something is slowing up the feed, as I can see the site logo in my browser tab keeps refreshing incessantly. Also, the Dodgers Main web page is taking much longer to load than it used to in the past. This from my perspective of couse.

Kemp not in the lineup is unaceptable. Put your best 8 hitters out there. Kemp is due to break through. As far as Martin not producing, he will break through soon. His presence behind the plate is much needed. He can rest in the future weeks to come.
About people here calling Pierre slappy.
That name fits him well, his batting aproach is just that trying to slap the ball the other way. Which he pops up anyways. So i don’t see why even do that. Put some balls into your swing Pierre.

Thanks for the information on Vin and the simulcast. Boy am I glad Vin is feeling better.

Thanks also for the information Scott–I assume that the Dodgers drove by bus down to San Diego, but flew the charter to Phoenix. What’s the protocol on a travel day? I assume there is a report time to the stadium. Is seating assigned based on seniority, or is it a free-for-all. Also, the old stories talked about how guys were roommates on the road (I remember being surprised that Don Newcombe and Jackie Robinson had roomates). Is that still the case today?

Finally, a comment about the line-up: Everywhere I read that Joe intends to make Kemp the everyday player, but does not want to try to get him out of the funk against the type of pitching we are facing. Even if I don’t fully agree (and I am willing to give Joe Torre the benefit of the doubt), I can appreciate the sentiment. But there is a big problem with the philosophy–we play in the National League West. Except for the Rockies–whose pitching is still above average–every team has at least two, and sometimes three or more, potential Cy Young candidates, plus quality fourth starters. The Giants, Padres, and Diamondbacks each have a former Cy Young winner as their third starter (yes, technically Zito is the Giants’ “Ace,” but it seems clear that Cain and Lincecum have passed him). So if you want to hit in the National League West, you have to hit against the best pitching in baseball. It’s just the way it is.

This Pierre thing is starting to really blow.
The last thing we need is upper management (ned) causing friction with Torre and the team to save face and play Pierre. Clearly this is what is happening.

Pierre is unhappy, let him go, let him walk away with a portion of his salary and as a free agent.

If he is not confident in himself to find another team that he can sign a new deal with, than he and his agent can sit down and shut the h*ll up, before he becomes a club house cancer.
I’m down for the 24 man roster- chemistry is everything, or at least a major quotient.

I was a Yankee Stadium yesterday with my daughter and beside seeing the Yankees win, I watched Willy Aybar go 1 for 3 & Wilson Betemit go 0 for 2. It was a dark & cold day.
I guess everybody knows Bomko threw 6-hit ball for the Royals in 5 scoreless innings.
The only thing I got against tonight’s line up is we would be better off if Pierre would bat behind Loaiza.
I hope before this game ends Kemp observes enough from the bench and is ready to come back in.
I can’t wait to see how we do against Dan Haran, tonight.

We have tickets to come back to the old Yankee Stadium Aug,17th for that last time, but I sure would like to come back in October to watch them play a “traditional” World Series against none other than The Los Angeles/ Brooklyn Dodgers.

This is outrageous and unfathomable. Joe Torre is really stretching to find justification for this. He might as well stand in front of Dodgers fans and say: “Screw you all, we are not going to put our best lineup out there every day. We will happily make ourselves a worse team in order to squeeze Juan Pierre into the lineup.”

How am I supposed to root for Pierre to hit? If he gets one single today, it will be used as justification for playing him another week. I thought this stuff was over. I thought Torre would bring credibility back to this team. But, seriously, how many years can I spend the off-season months agonizing over this team, and the season paying for Dodgers paraphenalia, paying for MLB Extra Innings and mlb.tv so I can watch games here in Columbus, OH, and stay up until 1am every day? How can I do all those things knowing that the Dodgers aren’t even trying to win games. Clearly they are not trying to win games if they are not daily putting their best possible lineup on the field.

Our “bench player”, our “fourth outfielder” is playing in his fourth game out of seven. This “bench player” has no played more than half the games this season.

It’s sad that the anti-management rhetoric is so strong after one week. Give Torre a few weeks to figure out his new team…he’s got 4 outfielders who expect to play and he has to juggle that until one alignment is perfectly clear (which it isn’t, sadly, since most of the OF is sucking so badly at the plate). It’s easy to say Kemp should start every game and Pierre should switch to cricket, but that’s not reality. What happens if Pierre sits on the bench for 2 weeks, but watches Kemp and Jones hit around .200? Are we still going to dogmatically call for our “best 8 hitters,” or let Torre mix it up to get this offense scoring some runs?

With the exception being Pierre over Kemp, I like the way Torre has arranged tonight’s lineup. I couldn’t have written it any better. Pierre’s down at 8, where he should be, and Jones is not batting in the heart of the order. Jones needs some good AB’s to get his swing going before we can rely on him in the 4 or 5 hole.

Nice lineup, EXCEPT for Pierre! I understood Pierre starting against Young because if he could get on he could steal a base, but its a different story tonight vs. Haren. We need our best people out there and Kemp would have been better. My lineup for tonight would have been:

P.U. Air better not get any hits tonight, otherwise we can forget about seeing Kemp in the lineup until Andre Ethier goes 0 fer a couple of games. Then of course the “inexperienced” Ethier will have to sit on the bench because we won’t really know what kind of player he is. Like I said earlier today, I love Andruw’s defense in center but not more than Kemp’s bat in the lineup.

Pellam,
Pierre’s never been good? His 2000-04 numbers were fine for a leadoff hitter. Good even. Just because you clearly hate the guy’s game and like speaking from your heart instead of your brain, don’t go telling lies.

Ned’s really accumulating some expensive center fielders: consider that between Jones and Pierre he’s spending about as much as the whole Marlins team – no wonder he feels like they both need to play even if there’s no productivity.

Kemp deserves to sit as long as he keeps striking out trying to pull low sliders out of the strike zone. I still get the feeling that he is not taking his coach’s advice as much as he should. He could be a very good player but I wish he would act a little more like his peers Loney and Martin. They are also aggressive but seem a bit more coachable.
As for Pierre, he needs to hit line drives. Those weak fly balls are pathetic.

Puppyhead–as someone who lost it the first day Pierre played for Kemp, I appreciate your call for patience (which I did all spring, in my defense).

But, there are two things here: 1) Except for Loney and Furcal, no one is really hitting. DeWitt’s doing very well, espescially considering what was expected, and Ethier’s playing relatively well (but still a little under what we expect from him). But Kent, Kemp and Jones are all under the Mendoza line, Pierre is under .100, and even Russell Martin is hitting only .095. So it’s not like Pierre is sitting around while there is a big sinkhole on the team–the whole team is slumping.

2) If after 2 or 3 weeks–once the team really gets going–if Kemp is out there hitting .125 and Pierre is riding the pine, I could see him getting upset. I could see Torre switching it up then. But Kemp has started 3 games. 3 games! There are times when even Joe Dimagio did not have a hit in 3 consecutive games. So I think it’s fair to give him a little more time then that. Kemp hit .342 over 98 games last season. He deserves at least a week or two.

We only played 6 games and this is the 7th. Be thankful Torre ended Pierres consecutive game streak.
By doing that he showed that Pierre will not be starting every game like he did last year.
I would believe that Joe wants to see all 4 outfielders as much as he can.
It is the best way for him to come to a decision.
Apparently he doesn’t look at Pierre the same way most of us do. Maybe he’s just trying to figure out how to use him.
Maybe he’s just trying to show that he gave Pierre a chance to show how valuable he is.
I’m sure that Kemp will be back in the starting lineup real soon.
Maybe he’s trying to showcase Pierre and Pierre is just not cooperating.

All things being equal, JP doesn’t move the runners along by doing what he does, so why is that any different than letting Kemp play through his striking out slump? If you put that on a level playing field, Kemp should still start because of his superior D in the outfield.

For some reason, watching Jones go down looking at a ball right on the outside corner (or maybe an inch or so off the plate) does not bother me as seeing Kemp striking out leaning toward the 3rd base line while the ball is curving low and outside. I know that both of them will come around and will have plenty of big games. I just hope it is sooner rather than later. I also hope that Colletti can find someone to take Pierre off our hands so Repko can get a chance to play once in awhile.

To me the Pierre vs. Kemp debate is simple. I understand that Pierre does some things well and does bring something to the table. But on a team that hit the 2nd fewest HR in the NL last year and has struggled to hit for power so far this season, we have a far greater need for a player capable of hitting 25-30 HR than one capable of piling up slap hits and stealing bases.

We already have a fine lead-off man in Furcal. We need the power threat that Kemp and Ethier bring to the table.

And as I stated above, I understand sitting Kemp for a day or two because he is struggling, but sitting him in favor of a player struggling even worse than he is makes no sense whatsoever.

“Juan Pierre started in Left-Field, as Joe Torre decided to sit Matt Kemp. It is understandable that Los Angeles wants to earn the most of out of their multi-million dollar contract with Pierre, but they should focus on winning. Hopefully, Torre will realize that he must put the best team onto the field and disregard the fact that some of their worst players are chewing away at their wallets.”

“Juan Pierre started in Left-Field, as Joe Torre decided to sit Matt Kemp. It is understandable that Los Angeles wants to earn the most of out of their multi-million dollar contract with Pierre, but they should focus on winning. Hopefully, Torre will realize that he must put the best team onto the field and disregard the fact that some of their worst players are chewing away at their wallets.”

for all the arguing about pierre over kemp…why in the world would the baseball gods allow loaiza to crack our rotation…i mean when penny goes down four in the first at least u kno ur gunna see shut out baseball for the next 5 but i honestly have no confidence loaiza can keep this under ten

THIS IS $#@!$#@$#@$@ driving me crazy!!! Why in the world are some of the most blatant things not solved!?!?!?!? Why the hell is Pierre playing, and why the hell is Loaiza starting over Park!?!?!?! I mean, this is common sense stuff, it’s not rocket science, it’s not something that any kid playing a video game could not realize. What you’re doing is not working. No, I’m not going to sit here and accept whatever just because it’s only a few games into the season! I’m a passionate fan, and I hate to see 123213232 gazillion dollars spent to produce mediocre crap. I thought Andruw Jones might be a good signing, but in reality he’s shown no ability to perform what so ever, Juan Pierre is not showing anything what so ever, Esteban Loaiza is not showing anything what so ever,!! Not to mention, the Dodgers usually do really well when they’re in AZ… but this team has ZERO chance of coming back from being down 4 runs… It makes for a very frustrating experience, and makes it really hard to root for your favorite team…. Ok, I’m done, sorry everyone… It’s just that I’m sitting in my office watching my favorite team in a room that is dedicated to them……. and it’s just frustrating…

Loaiza the $6 million man; Andruw good for $17 million – let’s not even mention old news like Schidt and Pierre.
Just give Ned some real money to work with, and he’ll show you what he can do. Hopefully…
Logan White in 2009!

It’s also like, we don’t take note of what creates a succesful team. We do things backwards…. We’ve got great pitching… but yet because of money, and a mistake made last year, this is the crap we’re going to run out there every 5 days. The same with Pierre….

was ANYONE suprised by what just happened? Kent homer, Ethier single… the only players we have that are worth a damn these days…. Then fat boy did the usual…. Did we keep Olmedo Saenz and just pay him a WHOLE lot more!?!?!

Jones looks like a rookie who never been exposed to Major league baseball pitching before. It’s really painful to watch him hack at pitches out of the strike zone.
Jones reminds me of the good racehorse that suffered an injury and is just a shell of himself now. Something must be physically wrong with him. He looks really pathetic. Nice move Ned. Boras picked your pockets.

It’s becoming very obvious that it isn’t baseball ability/potential that is considered when determining the lineup or pitching rotation. It’s the size of your contract. If you have a big contract, you start/pitch. Who cares about ability? When we’re paying big bucks, they need to earn them by playing. Sorry, fans, but that’s the way it is with the Dodgers now and we might as well get used to lit….and another fourth place finish.

Torre probably thinks that Pierre is really improving now – he fouled off four straight pitches before grounding out. That’s the kind of sign you want to look for before a real breakout. So, Pierre’s probably good for another two or three starts.

Slow down people. Its been one week! Kemp will get his start tomorrow and then we can see judge whether or not Torre did the right thing. For now, lets just hope we can get Haren out of this game. By the way, I love them working the counts to try and get pitchers out of the game early but he has to work on calming the young hitters down when they are 0-2 because it almost seems anything that follows is a strikeout guaranteed. I they have to slow down.

Bloaiza should lose the job, I never feel comfortable with him on the mound. His 83 mph “fast” ball is as hittable as having the ball on a tee. It really perplexes me when I know we have better 5th starter in McDonald and Kuo. Shouldn’t we have the rotation that gives us the best shot at winning a game regardless of who is starting for the other team?

Man for a club with a top 5 payroll we really dont have much to show, as a matter of fact, KEMP, DEWITT, LONEY, MARTIN, BILLS, TRONCOSO, ETHIER, SAITO, BROXTON are all getting league minimum or just a bit over but no huge contract. FRANK, ASK YOURSELF WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING? WHERE FRANK? We are not worth what you are paying!!

dont forget about Hu and Delwyn :) Its true. Trouble is Frank loves Ned and cannot see how lousy he has been. Man, its going to be tough to win in this division, our opponents just keep getting better and better, and we keep trotting out Ned’s failures.

For Puljos Money (seriously) Furcal really hasn’t performed to his contract. Great in 06 and was voted the 14th most valuable player in the NL, so say roughly the 25th most val player in baseball in 06, injured and Pierre like on 07 but was paid in top 15 each year…. No issues with Furcal, he may be my favorite dodger to watch nightly, i am strictly speaking value here.

Lofton, deemed not worthy of being resigned by Ned due to age and defense (which is just ironic) cause he signed Gonzo and Pierre instead. lol.

I am sad because I wish the guys who are running the D-backs were running our team. And thats a cold hard truth I have never admitted about any opponent of the Dodgers ever. They are younger and utilize there talent and did u see they locked up Chris Young. Upton is 21 and Kemp can’t play? And they are kicking our *****. They have two aces.

Meanwhile we get some stuff about how they are gonna take it slow with Martin. That you know we don’t need to cause whatever the hell gurnick said they said…

how long are we gonna keep andruw in the middle of the line up? he comes up in some very productive situations and does absolutely nothing. we should probably move him down and put a guy who can produce the RBI in the 5-6 hole. maybe…..

Torre’s managing was pathetic tonight. He didn’t start his best players. He didn’t start his 5th best starting pitcher. He let Pierre bat in the 7th inning when we were still in the game. Then, after Kemp pinch hits and singles Pierre stays in the game and Kemp goes back to the bench! Then he over uses Proctor. It’s going to be a long, long season if this is what we’re going to get from Joe!

Pierre is now batting .067 and plays the whole game. Can Torre be that stupid or is he just being arrogant – like I’m the manager and I’ll do as I want regardless of what anyone else thinks. Being a Dodger fan is no longer fun – it’s just plain torture!

If Pierre starts tomorrow, whether over Kemp, Ethier or Jones, I am going to freak! He has had his fun the last three games, now he needs to sit and figure out how to get his average into triple digits.

PHOENIX — Asked about his struggles at the plate and how he wasn’t in the Dodgers’ lineup for the third day in a row on Monday, Matt Kemp shrugged his shoulders, smiled and said everything would be fine. “I’m just a little impatient, man,” Kemp said. “It’s not that big a deal. If I keep having fun, the game will come to me.”

But hitting coach Mike Easler says he knows this has been a tough period for Kemp, who entered the Dodgers’ series opener in Arizona with a .125 average and seven strikeouts in 16 at-bats. The opening-day right fielder, Kemp last started on Friday because Manager Joe Torre has wanted to shield him from tough right-handers such as Arizona’s Monday starter, Dan Haren. Andre Ethier has moved from left field to right and Juan Pierre has gone from the bench to Ethier’s regular spot.

Kemp will be in the lineup today against left-hander Doug Davis. “It’s a very tough situation for him to be in,” said Easler, who worked with Kemp in the minors in the two previous seasons. “But in a situation like this, he has to work harder.”

Which Kemp has done, Easler said, pointing to how he is at the ballpark by 2 p.m. every day to get extra work in the batting cages.

Kemp was at Chase Field at 1:30 p.m. Monday, more than five hours before the first pitch. Easler said that Kemp’s recent problems are a result of him looking too much for pitches on the outside part of the plate. Kemp spent the spring working on hitting the ball to the opposite field, which, Easler said, has led to his chasing balls off the plate.

“Half of the breaking balls down and outside are balls,” Easler said. “You get to a point where you’re pushing everything instead of driving it.”

Easler said he was urging Kemp to look for pitches in the “middle-inner third” and to drive the ball to center. Kemp waited for a pitch in that location when pinch-hitting Monday in the seventh inning, slapping a single to right. Sensitive to what Kemp might be feeling, Torre said he had met in his office with the 23-year-old for the last two days and told him he would play today.

“I told Matty that he’d be playing a lot of baseball before it was all over, and that’s the part he has to trust me with,” Torre said, adding that he didn’t want Kemp to face Haren because “an anxious hitter will play into this guy’s hands.”

Kemp said that while he respected Torre’s decision, he wanted to play regardless of who was on the mound.

“I’m a big leaguer, they’re a big leaguer,” he said. “I’ll face anybody, it doesn’t matter who it is — ace, no ace, I want to face them all.”

Easler, who says he knows Kemp “like the back of my hand,” declared that this rough patch would benefit him in the long run.

“He’s going to be a superstar,” Easler said. “He’s destined for greatness. But every hitter, these kids here, the Uptons, the Youngs, the Howards, they’ve gone through what Matt’s going through.”

Josh,
This is off topic as I am just figuring out how to post comments.
While the Dodgers were in China, Frank McCourt refered to China as “this great country”. Being as how China looks anything but great, especially at this moment in time, I was wondering if you could please ask Mr. McCourt to explain what he meant when he used that phrase.
Thanks!

As someone mentioned earlier, watching how well the D-Backs have been put together just sickens me. Statistically, their average age is 27.2 and the D’s is 29.2. But that doesn’t really tell the whole story.

The Dodgers have a high payroll, great revenue, great stadium and big market fan base, but NO PLAN! What IS the plan? Are they pitching and defense with a small ball offense? Are they a veteran team loaded with age and experience going for one last hurrah?
Are they staying with the kids at all costs?

The answer is yes to all the above, and as they say in football, when you have two starting QBs, you have none. This I think is more telling than the failures of Pierre and Schmidt (and the possibly impending A. Jones), because the Ds keep pulling the same hamstring.

Look at Upton in riight field for the D-backs. He is their Matt Kemp. I remember his coming up last year late in the pennant chase and making tons of mistakes. He made another last night, but the guy has lights-out talent – and they played him and won too!

What kills me more than the Pierre signing is now compounding it with a fading (fast) and fat A. Jones. Now there are TWO outfield spots being taken or shared, when they could have easily gotten the power production and rbi’s from Kemp and Eithier that they may (or may not) get from fatboy Jones, at a fraction of the cost. Throw in Repko and D. Young and you have a young, fast and potentially powerful OF. Plus if/when you need a veteran, you get one at the trading deadline. Gonzo would have been a great fit if he came on board for Aug and Sept to lead and steady the kids, rather than take their playing time.

Gonzo is gone, and now we are still wondering about the kids. Can Kemp really play? What can D. Young do and where does he play? Can Repko really contribute and stay healthy?

I was disgusted before the game started last night because JP was starting AGAIN. But I totally lost it after Bloaiza’s “performance” and had to go watch TV instead.

Regarding jungar’s post above, its funny I posted this yesterday in response to someone on the previous thread:

I’ll take DePo over Ned anyday. At least he had an ideal and stuck to it. Didn’t always turn out well, but he did bring us Penny & Lowe. Kent’s been OK (better during the Depo years than Ned extension years.) Drew was average. Plaschke (the great baseball guru that he is) hated moneyball and “Google Boy” though and Frank probably fired DePo in response his public lambasting of the guy.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think DePo did a great job by any means, but I think Clueless is in way over his head.

jungar’s list of Ned’s bad acquisitions represent the symptoms of what’s wrong with the Dodgers, but the disease itself is management from the top down. From Legally Blonde to Clueless (Logan White and Ng notwithstanding.) The club is infested with outsiders with little, make that no regard for “the Dodger way” and traditions. We thought we turned a corner when the Fox years ended, but not so. First Cap’n Frank hires the A’s Depo, then fires him and hires a Giant to run his ballclub with absolute disregard that they’re our traditional rivals dating back what, 100 years? He also has Red Sox envy, and wants to make a big splash so he hands Ned a blank check and says, “Go out and get me some names.” Meanwhile he goes out and hires a Sox man to run the promotional PR and I don’t suspect it’ll be too long before you’re hearing Sweet Caroline echoing regularly around the stadium.

Clueless has no idea what he’s doing, but has a big budget, so let’s go get some famous names. Nevermind the estimations of other GMs about their abilities, I’ll just hire my old trainer to endorse the signing by slapping a USDA Choice sticker on their ***.

Until they get some real baseball people running the show (read that as Logan White, but an O’Malley type owner would help even more) I’m afraid that the D’s will become the Cubs – perennial also rans. But in a way we’ll be worse because we’ll churn out amazing young ballplayers who’ll attain stardom with other teams, you know, like those small market venues.

BTW, in another stellar Ned move, he traded Hull (who was already DFA’d) to (my my) the Red Sox for a 1A ballplayer who’s spent 6 years already in the minors. Oh, he’s a shortstop too – just what we need with Hu, DeJesus and Mattingly.

I d Like to ask Ned, if you told Pierre’s agent that he’d play when he shows that he deserves to play (which was the right thing to say) What has Pierre done to show he deserves to play? Also Arizona is managed better than the Dodgers, they let their young players play everyday and don’t block them with players that aren’t productive. I understand that sometimes you have to replace slumping players, but it doesn’t make sense if you’re replacing them with other slumping players. Maybe they should get rid of Pierre and bring up Repko. Lets see what he can do, I doubt it would be worse.

I wonder how long Kershaw needs to blow away minor leaguers before we can get his butt up here to help. Loaiza stinks. Yeah, yeah, retired ten in a row after the 4 run first. Whoop dee frickin doo. How about giving the team a frickin chance before 10 minutes have gone by?

“He’s going to be a superstar,” Easler said. “He’s destined for greatness. But every hitter, these kids here, the Uptons, the Youngs, the Howards, they’ve gone through what Matt’s going through.”

Yes, and Matt Kemp has already been through “what Matt’s going through”. For those who don’t remember or don’t know — which apparently includes Mike Easler and Joe Torre — Kemp came up and destroyed major league pitching for a couple of weeks in June of 2006 — TWO YEARS AGO. Then the league figured out he couldn’t hit a major league curve and he went in the tank.

Entering the 200SEVEN season, the jury was out on Matt Kemp. Would he be a flash-in-the pan or a star? Kemp more than answered the question LAST YEAR. The Bison is destined for superstardom. All he needs is one thing — the opportunity to play EVERY DAY.

Playing Juan Pierre over Matt Kemp is like being invited to Ruth’s Chris and sneaking in a can of Fancy Feast* instead of enjoying a steak with all the fixings.

Enchanted hit the nail right on the head in his post a couple of entries back. There really is no baseball knowledge and experience at work with the ownership or the GM position. The owners are making the usual Hollywood/LA grab for social position, and the GM is strictly a public relations buffoon. It was a sorry day when Selig approved the less than nothing financing for the McCourts, and see where that’s led the organization in increased cost for the fans. Yes, he loosened the purse strings for player acquisition, but look at who did the spending and the abysmal results. Acquisition and contract extension of some big names, but no real direction and consistency for where this team is headed – like always two steps forward and at least one back, and sometimes one forward and two back. I do trust Torre more than I did Grady, because he at least is a real baseball man, but getting him was just another publicity gimmick, and I don’t think that he can set the direction for the team in a vacuum. The fans are bound to be frustrated for the season and maybe so for a long time to come. I think we’d all recognize when there is a real change at hand, but I don’t see it happening with Colletti as the GM. Just ask yourself, if and when he loses that job, who do you think will be interested in picking him up, given his record as a GM. Disgraceful selection, but not surprising with the public relations bend of this ownership and organization.

It’s true that Kemp struggles against right-handers, if you consider “struggling”:
1) a virtual rookie (Kemp had 24 ABs too many in ’06 to be an official rookie in ’07)
2)hitting 20 homers and 70 RBI while hitting .318, and admittedly striking out 125 times
3) while batting primarily near the bottom of the order.

The above is an extrapolation of what Kemp’s stats over a full 2007 season would have been if he had about 575 ABs all batting against right-handers. (http://tinyurl.com/64xmgg)

Kemp does not need “shielding”. The only thing that Kemp lacks to continue to blossom into the superstar he’s destined to be is PLAYING TIME.

I share your view regarding Loaiza. I’d like to see what Park can do in his place. Unfortunately, it would appear that we as fans have a real problem. Management is obviously making playing time decisions based on payroll. That is their option, of course, and it’s certainly not our money to spend. But it is just as obviously affecting the team’s performance. Park outpitched Loaiza in ST.

FYI – Kershaw had a so-so outing in his first start in Jacksonville. I posted those results here back on Thursday. He’s due to pitch again tomorrow.

“Joe Torre received praise last week in this space for smartly choosing Andre Ethier to start over Juan Pierre in the Dodgers’ outfield, but apparently that was speaking too soon. Ethier has indeed been playing regularly, but Torre has still managed to get Pierre into the lineup by inexplicably benching the team’s best outfielder, Matt Kemp. Kemp batted .342 with an .894 OPS in 98 games with the Dodgers last season, which was extremely impressive for a 22-year-old.

It never even crossed my mind that Kemp might be benched for Pierre, because that seemed so obviously misguided, yet that’s exactly what’s happened. Pierre started over Kemp for a third straight game Monday and has forced him to the bench four times in seven games this season. Kemp will likely play Tuesday against left-hander Doug Davis and Pierre’s 1-for-15 (.067) start may help Torre come to his senses, but his decision-making is in serious question.”

It must be the constant belief by management that veteran players will always come back to their proven level of productivity, but young players must be regarded as doubtful in that respect. In the case of Pierre, I don’t know what achieving his normal level of productivity would mean, because it didn’t bring us anywhere last year. As for Andruw, last year’s level wasn’t exactly stellar, but I guess we would settle for the HR’s and the RBI’s. Disregarded in the process is the potential upside that Kemp brings to the equation.

“I didn’t have no clue why they were taking me out,” said Loaiza, who fell to 0-2 and saw his earned-run average inflate to 6.75. Can we please start signing players who know the answers to very simple, obvious questions…

The Simers story about the “riff-raff” being kept out of the box seats area during BP is rather depressing. As a group, the folks in these seats are among the weakest fans in the stadium — more than a few of them aren’t even fans but just bigshots with company tickets — yet they’re the only ones who get autographs from the players. We’ve come a long way in the wrong direction from the days when kids would crowd around the player’s parking lot after a game and every night at least a few guys would come over and sign a bunch of balls.

P.S. I say this as someone who often enough gets to sit in the front row of those box seats (which I love), but am thrilled anytime I have a seat anywhere in the stadium.

If any kids want to mill around me when I’m lucky enough to sit in the boxes, I’d be more than happy to have them. I would prefer not to sit in a pile of mustard, but if that’s the cost it’s more than worth it for the thrill some kid gets by five seconds of interaction with James Loney.

dodgereric,
I am a 1st grade teacher in Northern California, and that article is so very depressing. I am doing the exact same things in using baseball to teach math, as well as geography, along with just the enjoyment of loving the sport of baseball (at least half of my class has started collecting baseball cards). I have managed to convert some Giants fans to Dodger fans(which is not an easy task even though the Giants are doing terrible). This article won’t reach this age group but just knowing it’s out there is, like I said, very depressing.

Anyone read my comments from the other day about Coletti?…I said the worst acquisitions continue to happen because of him…First Schmidt and Pierre….then Loiaza and now …Andruw Jones……but, who wouldn’t want to pay $18mil for a rally killer….it’s sad…and by the way put Proctor on that list…pathetic…..We have no more hitting than we ever did, except thankfully Ethier and Loney and occassionally Kent.and Furcal……every time Jones comes to the plate I cringe…What made Ned think he would be better than last year????,…..Would rather have Tori Hunter for 5 years than Andruw for 2….pathetic front office…really pathetic…

Look at the way the DBacks put a team together….They would never have signed Luis Gonzalez again or Andruw Jones…They seem to have a better clue….Can anyone tell me why Andruw Jones was so courted by the Dodgers and McCourt?….Did they think all of a sudden he would become the player of years ago..?….doesn’t look like he has a clue…I’m so upset about all the mistakes…agree with whoever called for Logan White…at least he knows players….hate to say it but Podesta was better than Coletti..never thought I’d say that.!!!!!Looks like the Braves are doing just fine without Andruw…would rather have a “normal” center fielder that was a good hitter than Andruw…

I’ve been living in Temecula for the last 14 years, which is about 90 miles from Dodger Stadium. Most of my ‘spare’ time is taken up these days with Boy Scouts and youth hockey, so it’s not often I get to go to the park to watch my Dodgers in person anymore. Back in the 60s thru the early 90s I’d take in 30 games a year. I’d sit in the Reserve deck when I went with my parents, and later on I got to love the left field bleachers. I never got many opportunities to grab autographs as it wasn’t really one of my hobbies, but I used to really enjoy watching those of you who did. An exception were the Sunday games when they would put a couple of players in the stands before the games and we’d wait in the lines. It really was more of a thrill to see them face to face than anything else. To smile at them and have them smile back. Man……..

It’s really sad to think that those days are gone. Especially because of those ‘special’ box seats for the hoidy-toidy folks. I know that you cannot generalize, but generally speaking, I agree with you, MLK. Those seats are occupied many times by the casual (at best) fan who are the ones who are leaving the game after the bottom of the seventh. It always makes me angry that they are so often the beneficiaries of these great seats that the rest of us never get to experience. I doubt that many of them read about the Dodgers in January or are still filled with adrenaline 3 hours after a thrilling win or an agonizing loss.

Truely is a depressing article. I remember going on a Sunday way back when and having two players at the extremes of each level sitting behind a booth and signing autographs on a baseball sticker. As I recall, you could also go up or down a level in those days too.

Couple this article with the other stories about fights and harrassment in the stands… sounds like a great place to take the family.

I used to like that I could sit in the top deck for under 10 bucks a seat whenever I wanted to go to a game. Now McCourt has doubled the ticket prices for the cheaper areas in about 2 years time as well as raised parking dramatically. I’d rather drive around the stadium for parking at $5 less. Anyway, it’s much more difficult to be a regular fan if you don’t have a huge disposable income these days, and what have we to show for it? 4th place???

I’m still not sold on Dodger team unity, whether it’s Loiaza failing to grasp why he was pulled for a pinch hitter (duh???) or Pierre complaining about playing time (double duh???). Ironically, it was that malcontent trouble-maker, Matt Kemp, who when questioned about his benching, “shrugged his shoulders, smiled and said everything would be fine. ‘I’m just a little impatient, man. It’s not that big a deal. If I keep having fun, the game will come to me.'” Whatever we do or don’t know about the clubhouse, let’s get rid of the complainers, whoever they are. This mess was supposed to be taken care of, huh Ned.

Re the 5th starter. I think they have to give at least two chances to Loazia (remember, he went 21-9 a few years ago, and he settled down after the first). If that doesn’t work, Chan-Ho Park deserves two chances, and if that doesn’t work, Hong-Chih Kuo deserves two chances. That takes us to mid-May. If none of those three are working, and Schmidt is not ready yet, it may be time to place a call to Jacksonville for the services of Mr. Kershaw. But as much as I am excited about seeing him pitch in Los Angeles, he’s still 2 years out of high school, still building arm strength, still only has two pitches (admittedly, they’re great pitches–a blazing fastball and a wicked curve). But I would still rather him progress in the minors for another year and excel in the majors for 2 decades than be like Kerry Wood and rushed up to LA, pitch too much, and be hoping that he can make it as a closer when he’s 30 after 2 Tommy John surgeries and a decade on and off the injury list.

You’re probably right, but I might bump Kuo ahead of Park based on his decent Game 3 effort. Although, I don’t see how being the 5th starter is much more taxing than pitching in AA. You’re talking less starts than Penny or Lowe, right? Anyway, I can’t argue with your cautious approach too much though.

I guess I’m showing my age when I recoil at $10 a seat for the top deck. I was paying $1 to park my motorcycle right next to the left field bleachers and $1.50 for my seat, looking right at those folks in the field box seats wrapped around the foul pole that paid $5 (I think) for theirs for a worse view.

I took my Mom to a game last year for her Mother’s Day gift from me. We sat in the Reserve deck behind the Dodger dugout, close to where we used to be able to sit before the Fernandomania days. I was appalled at the gang-bangin’ jerks and their filthy language. It used to be that there would be the occasional idiot that the ushers took care of, but that place was more like going to a Raider game in the Coliseum.

i’m only 19 but even i remember getting td tickets for 6 bucks on the day of the game. i cant stand the whole gang ****** thing. they have no respect for anyone and they dont even know whats going on in the game. they all stand up and get in your way when something happens 5 sections away.
i’ve been going to games my whole life and never got a chance to sit at field level until last year. i got to see a 11k 2-0 win for wolf over the reds. great game. before the game i watched the players warm up. didnt get any autographs, but i was so much fun. i felt like a kid again. i was able to get a ball that griffey hit down the line…i then gave it to a little girl who was probably about 6. she was at her first dodger game, and walked away with a ball.
i guess there wont be anymore of that. too bad, cause those are the kind of things peopel remeber for the rest of their lives.

If you got a Griffey ball and gave it to a little girl, you’re a better man than I am. The only ball I ever got was one that Boots Day tossed up in the bleachers during BP before a game with the Expos. I’d have given my left you-know-what to get a ball from the game.

i agree Kahli, thats been my argument for years now, this team needs unity and an identity and HUNGER and old guys dont do that as much. i had alot of friends ten years ago, now not so much..thats the difference between 25 and 35

The gangbang element needs to be taken care of before it’s too late and the whole place is ruined. I’m afraid to take my kids to anything but expensive seats right now. The top deck used to have a great family atmosphere fro $6 just a couple of years ago. Now, what, $12? Is that to pay for scrubs like Juan Pierre, Gonzo, and Loaiza?

I wrote a letter to the Times after attending that game and they printed it. I guess it’s not any better. I also guess that everyone’s welcome as long as their money is green.

I went to a Dodger-Padre game back at the old Murph maybe 7-8 years ago. I was wearing my D-gear and had to set a drunken young idiot straight as to what would happen if he were to continue spewing his filth around my young son. I’m afraid that today all that would get me is a bullet or knife in the back.

Men just aren’t men anymore. Our freeways are becoming proof of that.

Back to the candy store. Regarding team unity, winning will take care of that. But refusing to play the ones who deserve it will not only divide the team, it will not help to accomplish the winning part either. I know that I would accept the bench if someone was playing better. But I know how angry I was when the coach’s son was out there pitching so that our best pitcher wasn’t.

jungar, you’re right. The kids have already stated they want a chance to bring the success and good vibe of Jacksonville to Dodger Stadium. Let ‘em. What have we got to lose? Except the malcontents. I’m REALLY disappointed in Pierre…not his play or talent…but his whining. True colors shine under the glare of adversity.

Dodgereric,
I haven’t been to Dodger stadium in years. I moved to Northern California 8 years ago. I remember going to games at least 20 times a year and there was never a bad element at the stadium. I am sad to hear that it has turned out that way. I was hoping to take my son to his first Dodger game this year. I have taken him to A’s games which were actually very civil very unlike a raiders game. And I have been lucky enough to go to pacbell park on a couple of occaisions (3 rows from the dugout!) and had a great time, even wearing Dodger blue the fans were great. Of course we gave each other a hard time but there was never a threatening feeling what so ever! And I am sure McCourt won’t do anything about it, because he has to pay for Nedsters screw ups.

I just sent this letter to the Times sports department. It will be interesting to see if they print it:

“After the opening day ceremonies at Dodger Stadium last week, I almost wrote to the Times to retract all the horrible things I’ve said about the McCourts ruining the Dodger franchise.

After reading TJ Simers’ story on the autograph situation in Dodger Stadium, I’m glad I didn’t write it. If I’ve ever heard of a short-term gain and a long-term loss, this is it. This is no way to groom future fans, McCourt. If this is the best you can do, leave. Sell the team to the city. As bad as the Coliseum Commission is, they can’t be worse than you.”

whats up with Selig allowing players to wear number 42 again this year? It was a cool way to remember and honor his last year, but now its just seems like a gimmick to make money and no longer about honoring a great man.

A lot can be said for the degredation of society as a whole, but in a small world such as Dodger Stadium, a few extra security guards with a few of L.A.’s finest here and there and I imagine you could clean things up rather quickly. BUT there has to be the will to do it, which evidently is lacking in all but the expensive seats.

Josh,
I just read the TJ Simmers story (thanks for the link Dodgereric). It is truly a sad day when the Dodgers make a policy intended to benefit the few at the expense of the many simply because they have more money than others. I can’t believe that the McCourts could’ve possibly signed off on this policy given how they are always preaching that they do everything with the fans best interest in mind. It makes one ponder if they are only interested in certain fans instead of all fans when making decisions. I hope this decision is revisited quickly and a change is made.

You’re all right on the mark as well – in the old days when you went to the stadium and someone else was rooting for the other team, there was good-natured ribbing going on back and forth, but never anything derrogatory or intimidating, much less physical. I actually had the honor once of somehow sitting in the middle of an entire section of Expos fans. Have no recollection of the outcome of the game, but it was fun bantering back and forth with them. Think it was back in the days of Mike Jorgensen, Tim Foli, Steve Rogers and the immortal Bombo Rivera.

I am glad to see that Kemp is playing and it wasn’t at the expsense of Ethier. I was dreading the line up today, Kemp in and Either out so Slappy could get his at bats. But at least for now the world is alright and Slappy is were he belongs sitting on his @@@. :-)

Ferk, Loney, Ethier, and Kent producing. Jones, Kemp, Martin and Martin not. DeWitt in the middle but was producing. I won’t mention the smell from the corner of the clubhouse. I guess we’re halfway there. Like to see Jones get it together. Kemp and Marty will be OK. We need this one tonight. C’mon Billz. Loaiza did settle in and pitch well after the 1st. Same as Penny. Got to run him out there at least one more time. Probably two. If he stinks, start Kuo. I believe Chan Ho is better suited for long relief and mop up work than Kuo. Go Dodgers!

I actually like the idea of hitting Kemp 2nd, I think Torre’s logic is that he will see better pitches to hit in that slot. It also gives our team an opportunity to jump out to a 1-0 or 2-0 lead within the first few pitches of the game.

Just back from PHX and last night’s game. I guess I don’t have to tell you the pitching stunk. I was looking forward to Bilz and got Loaiza instead. Both my wife and I were strongly reminded of Tomko and the game we saw in Denver last year. As luck would have it, we’ve been seeing the 5th starter every time we go to game the last several years. The Boys have been able to out-slug the opposition a couple times, thanks to Jeff Kent and Shawn Green. Last night was not one of them, thanks to Andrew Jones. I was very unimpressed. He DOES look heavy.

I, too, am appalled by the T. J. Simers’ story on the autograph situation in Dodger Stadium. That is inexcusable, but I guess not all that surprising given the Dodgers’ current ownership/management. What a contrast the Dodgers are now compared to the good old days of the Brooklyn Dodgers! Baseball sure has changed a lot, and certainly not for the better.

Concerning Loaiza’s remarks, it actually probably would have been better to leave him in at that point. He was in a groove and the bullpen is being over used by Torre. Beimel and Proctor are going to burn out fast if Joe keeps bringing them him like he has been doing. That’s what he did with Proctor when both of them were with the Yankees and it really affected Proctor’s effectiveness. I don’t agree that Loaiza should be the fifth starter, but when he was finally getting people out and the bullpen could use some rest, I think it would have been smarter to leave him in. Using Proctor again turned out to be very costly.

Ya Jhall, that comment killed me! And he called them hard hit, the only thing that hit hard was my body on the floor from laughing so hard. Not only is Slappy going away from the one thing he is good at (hitting on the ground and legging out a single) but he is also getting out on the base path, which for a “speed” guy is horrendous.

I’m not quite ready to give up on Andruw yet, after all Martin and Kemp aren’t exactly setting the world on fire right now either. If Andruw still looks the same in late May, yikes but for now he’s playing a solid CF and will hopefully hit a hot streak and carry us offensively for a stretch. If the Tigers haven’t won a game yet, I think its a little early to consider anybody a bust. Likewise we shouldn’t get too excited about Kuroda, granted he looked good…real good but I’m sure he’ll hit a rough patch or two this season.

I was also surprised when Loaiza came out. From where I sat I could see Park was ready, but I did not think there would be a pinch hitter unless someone got on, which did not happen. Loaiza had settled down enough to go another inning. I thought the whole object of Bilz going the last two innings on Sunday and starting Loaiza last night was to preserve the pen, but what do I know. Anyway, the results were ugly.
The D-backs put on a good opening night, though. You can go down there in your Dodger regalia and not get too bad of a time. Good ball park if you get the chance to go.

If there are any Stones fans on here, you ought to go see the Scorsese/Stones flick. You’ll like it.

OK folks…more evidence of how screwed up the Dodger management is…DBacks extended their “stud” center fielder, Chris Young to a 5yr $26 mill contract…..can you believe they have a really good center fielder who can hit for that deal and we have one who gets paid a little less than that for one year who can’t hit….The Dodgers have no philosophy…I’m sure all of you would rather see young players in there and forget these used up veterans again…I would rather lose with a plan that struggle with this screwed up roster…..SCHMIDT PIERRE JONES PROCTOR, etc etc….no matter who the manager is, they can’t win with this ridiculous philosophy of Coletti’s and McCourt’s….

I hope that some of you who hated on Grady last year have come around to see that the disasterous 07 was not all his fault. I don’t think it would have mattered what manager we had in there, all the cry babies(both the players and the front office) would have drove anybody insane. I don’t blame Grady a bit for getting out.

re: enchanted at 6:33 AM above (why is anyone posting at 6:33 AM?) This is Lara’s (the player we got for Hull) 6th year in the minors but he will only be 23 this week. Mattingly is a 2nd baseman not a shortstop (and so far can’t hit or field from what I’ve read)

Let’s get resigned to the fact that Andruw is going to play CF for two years, and Pierre will be a highly paid bench sitter for another few years, although he’ll get his turns in left. In the meantime I hope Repko really blasts the ball in AAA, because he doesn’t have a big enough contract to be playing on the big team.

to be honest jspelk, billingsley to me is a second half pitcher, he’ll show up after the all star break, if we get a few good starts in the first half I think we’ve gotten more than we should hope for. His mechanics come along too far into the season.

I think the entire team is waiting to show up in the 2nd half and that won’t be good. We’ll be 20 games out of first by then. One thing next year, we don’t need to play in China or anywhere else. Our spring training has carried right into the regular season.

It looks to me like Bills is still experimenting with a lot of his off-speed pitches that he was working on in Spring Training. He needs to go with locating his fast ball, which is what got him to the big league in the first place. He’s not a cutesy pitcher.

I had never seen Billingsley is anything more than a prospect. He has always had a high pitch count in the early innings and doesn’t seem to be able to control the placement of any of his pitches. Yes he has a good fastball and a good deduce, but he can’t control them. I lobbied on the blogs last year to trade him and Matt (another prospect) for a proven major league player in his prime — a Cabrera or a Santana, not Andrew Jones who was on the down slope. You don’t get the Kentucky Derby by buying prospects or broken down racehorses.

I think part of the problem with Bills is that Bennett is catching. I think Martin would come to the mound and tell him to quit screwing around with all that slow stuff and get back to his basic strength.

he should have sent Bowa to the mound. We need some damn fire!! This team has ALWAYS lacked heart… how long has it been since we’ve had a big moment? The 4 homers in a row? That was a couple of years ago!!

Bilz didn’t have it tonight BUT
These guys won’t swing at anything unless they like what the pitch looks like.
When they see what they like POW.
They’re good.
Davis is as good as all the rest we’ve been facing lately.

just my thoughts, yhour in a close game in the seventh inning, why not bring in your best reliever to keep it close… not saito, but why not broxton? it seems to me broxton and saito arent pitching enough because they are used when we have a lead, which lately is not happening.

Well…. at least Kuo looks great. Should be the 5th starter over Loaiza, of course Loaiza will bitch and moan about being in the pen so that won’t happen. Ugh. Hope we don’t get swept tommorrow. Jones has just been awful. And we have been really unlucky—Ethiers almost homerun and the “bounce” triple over DeWitt.

so do we…kent, kemp, loney, ethier, furcal, martin. remember how well they started doing with Mueller as the coach? not saying that easler is bad, just saying that there is no way that these guys can adapt to a hitting plan because in a season and a half its been 3 hitting coaches, they dont stand a chance. atleast AZ has stuck with Gibson even with their terrible run differential last year cause they couldnt hit at all but they hit when it counted along with their staff keeping them in the game.

If McCourt is pricing children out of receiving field level autographs (and putting them in centerfield with a bunch of overgrown kids [probably myself included] who have never touched a BP ball themselves), then he has no right to put that Dodgertown sign outside of Dodger Stadium.

McCourt seems to be getting by on the seam of his pants. He knows nothing about baseball, but by surrounding himself with those knowledgeable about the sport (and probably asking Mark Langill which Dodgers to invite to the Opening Day ceremonies [“what’s a Sandy Koufax? Is that a beach?”], he has managed to put a good face on the ownership.

But if he is going to refuse children the right to autographs on Gameday for the benefit of fans with more money and less fanaticism about the team, He’d better prepare for a sea of red Angels fans in the coming decade. This blunder is at least 10 times worse than when he treated Joe Amalfatano and Ross Porter like transient garbage. This isn’t spitting in the face of the past, it’s spitting in the face of the future, and it would behoove Mr. McCourt to surround himself with somebody who can demonstrate that, even if it takes flashcards and sock puppets.

I’m almost more ashamed to be a Dodgers fan now than I was on Ball Night (yes, THAT Ball Night).

You’re right Jungar, My Bad.
It is Jones that should sit it out if any.
He is simply just swinging for the fences.
He’s got to sit down and watch some good hitters for a while.
Then come back and just think about putting some wood on the ball.
Go the other way and stop trying for the HR.
It just might come naturally.

Josh:
If possible could you address TJ Simer’s article in the Times. It does seem with all of the price increases and making special food areas and now special autograph areas for the rich fans that the Dodgers do not particularly want the rest of us as fans as much as they used to. If that is true then I will have to consider that maybe the Angels were right in starting to call themselves Los Angeles because there are alot more of us that can not afford on a regular basis to pay for those seats and perks. The Dodgers say they want 4 million of us to show up but are doing everything they can to avoid making that happen.

jungar: your post above which claims to sum up our problems in a nutshell just seems silly to me- what am I missing? The Dodgers needed a CF and needed to add power; they did not have a player in their system who could give them those things. They decided ( the process unknown to both of us I think) that Andruw Jones could bounce back from his terrible 2007 season and made him a offer for 2 years. I’m sure that if they had a young CF with power they would not have made such an offer but they didn’t and still don’t. Bennett (you claim and it is a reasonable claim but possible a false one by a small amount) makes as much as Loney and Martin combined. Why is this a bad policy for the Dodgers when it is the nature of baseball salaries? Veterans get paid more than players in their first few years do. Saito doesn’t make what he’s worth to the team for example. Should the Dodgers be paying Bennett less or Loney and/or Martin more or are you advocating an even lesser back-up to Martin than Bennett such as a catcher with little or no ML experience who would only make the minimum or are you advocating that the Dodgers lock up their young players as Arizona did with Young?

Josh,
To cosmow123’s point, I think it might be prudent to have someone in the organization to address this new policy. I find it odd that the only way anyone found out about this (unless they were on the field level) was to hear it from an article by TJ Simmers. If the Dodgers feel it is such a good idea, why not publicize it? I realize that is a loaded question, but if the Dodgers make decisions that affect the majority of their fans yet aren’t willing to publicize it, they might want to reconsider that decision, don’t you think?

1) My all-time favorite player Bill Buckner was finally given his proper due at Fenway Park. I could go on and on, but for today I’ll just say that for a guy whose knees were shot by the time he was 26, he had an amazing career. http://tinyurl.com/57n6k3

2) One of those two doofuses who do the radio broadcasts said “Kemp has broken out of his slump.” I’m wondering what the heck he was talking about. Kemp hadn’t had enough ABs tonight to constitute a slump. If you can raise your batting average to a respectable .273 in one night by going 3 for 5, you’re not in a slump.

3) I plead guilty to zealously advocating for the acquisition of Andruw Jones. Obviously he’s been a disappointment thus far. But it is very early.

4) Between April 14 and May 4, we’ve got a lot of juicy offensive opportunities coming up including 3 with Pittsburgh, a 5-game road trip to Atlanta and Cincinatti and a 6-game roadie to Florida and Colorado.

5) My Loney has a first name
It’s J-A-M-E-S
My Loney has a second name
It’s L-O-N-E-Y

I love to watch him every day
And if you ask me “Why?” I’ll say
‘Cause James Loney has a way
With H-I-T-T-I-N-G

I was pretty disappointed when I did not get to see Billingsley and got Loaiza instead Monday night. Guess it made no difference, same result.
We can only hope this funk does not last and Kuroda restores order and Jones starts to do some hitting.
Some of those batting averages flashed next next to the players names are starting to get real scarey.

I’m here and now advocating that Jones sits a couple games in favor of DY. Move Kemp to center and let Jones get his stuff together. I too was happy when they signed Andruw, but this is beyond embarrassing. Now we’ve got two CFers that can’t hit.

Jones should sit … but don’t be surprised to see Phew in CF in his place. That is the natural, if not wrong, thing to do.
Just my $.02 – I emailed TJ Simers yesterday afternoon … I know him from sportswriters’ conventions … and told him in no uncertain terms to dtay on the ‘Parking Lot Attendent” and the “Screaming Meanie’ until this horrendous new rule has been change back to the way it was.
PULL THE TRIGGER!

Jones is trying to hitting everything over the fence, he is swing and hitting the top of the ball, while trying to pull everything. Everything he hits stays in the infield right back at the 3rd basemen. He is very off balance. And that outside pitch let me not say anymore, he can’t hit it.
Hope last night was a break through for Kemp.
Now we just need Martin to break through.

From now on Ethier and Kemp should be a consistent left/right combination; otherwise, we’re just screwing around with the lineup and heading for a permanent fourth place finish. Jones should probably sit down for a couple of games to get his head cleared and let him know that he may be headed for an end to his carrer in two years unless he can learn to get back to hitting that ball, and not necessarily for power.

Think maybe our expectations are too high for this team. After all, as others have mentioned, our kids are two years behind AZs and the Rox. 3rd or 4th is a viable reality unless Druw and some of the other guys play lights-out June-Sept. Think Torre still “evaluates” through most of May. Not saying it can’t happen, but the odds are only so-so.

That said, I agree bear – Ethier and Kemp play virtually everyday, as does Loney, DeWitt and LaRoche when he gets back. Think we have to look at Andruw as a stop-gap in center until we have another OFer develop in the minors.

Should the season be tanking by the trade deadline, I’ve come to the opinion we should unload Ferk, Kent and Lowe for a butttload of [high] prospects. Then let Hu take over at short, maybe DeWitt at 2nd. I’m willing to trade a couple of bad years for an end result like we’re seeing with others in our division. It also includes installing Logan White as GM.

Upper management (do you hear me Frank?) needs to understand the Dodger Way and hire from within the organization. Logan deserves a shot at running the show, and he has a helluva lot more credibility judging talent than Ned does. Also, if you’re going to commit your future to the kids, then COMMIT. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that a high priced FA its going to put you over the top. There are no short-cuts to success when you make this committment – you take your lumps for 2-3 years, but on the otherside, you have a team you can be proud of. The natural by-product as well is an inexpensive club and a deep farm system. Then when the time is right that a FA or trade can put you over the top, you do it, but your doing it from a position of strength, not panic or desperation.

Speaking of end of career — I don’t know if you remember this or not, but Jones’ contract is precisely why the Dodgers gave him a 2-year deal and not four to six. Jones was told if he produces at levels of the past he would be rewarded … it hasn’t happened yet … and the season is still young, but right now he doesn’t look like he knows how to hit any pitch.
As a fan, I sure hope that changes.

3rd attempt to post if I get timed out again…screw MLB! Andruw is out of shape and looks lost. Joe has to sit him down so he can maybe relax and get a clue. He looks like a minor leaguer seeing off speed ptiches for the 1st time. This is why I wanted Torii Hunter, he takes his craft seriously, his in great shape, and has a great attitude. It is early but this is distressing, Andruw has not hit the ball hard yet that I remember. In ST he looked horrible!!!

As for sitting Kemp for those 2 or 3 days it was probably good, he was pressing. Andre has been solid and Martin has been pressing also, but with his work tic and attitude not too concerned…Dewitt has been outstanding and I hope Nomar does not come back for a while, I read maybe Monday, but fingers crossed no…

The starters have got to stop giving up 3-4 runs in the 1st…Loaiza please go away and kershaw or Kuo step in!!!

The Ds are making too many fundamental errors, baserunning , moving runners (not), could be a result of the broken up ST.

“We screwed around with him his last start,” said Torre. “We banged him and brought him in relief. He’s not using it as a reason. But he didn’t get into any kind of rhythm, he didn’t look comfortable. At the time we made the decision, it made sense. I’m not saying we would have done anything different. But starting pitchers get into a routine and it certainly got in the way of his routine. It was just the circumstances more so than the decision. We made the decision, so we have to take our share of the blame, too.”

And that is why Torre is so popular with his players. Bills will find it, as Joe said he just looked uncomfortable all night last night, I’m not too concerned, he’s gonna find it. I really liked what I saw out of Kemp last night, sat back on the ball, stayed square to the pitcher and let those explosive hands do the job. He’s getting real close to finding that power stroke which will hopefully jump start our offense. Loney and Kemp should be hitting back-to-back all year (preferably with Loney in front of Kemp) because they really are our 2 best hitters.

Love the lineup today. Andre seems to be more comfortable at the 5th spot. He just didn’t have any luck last night, especially that home run that missed by inches (heartbreaking). Even though that was a horrible game last night, it was great to see Kemp get his swing back, and I know Martin’s day is coming very soon.
GO DODGER BLUE – LET’S GET THIS ONE!!!

As you all know, I tend to be the voice that calls for patience on this blog. Not that I’m not passionate, but I may be SLIGHTLY less impassioned than many of you who post here :) As discouraging as this series has been so far, I am leaning toward agreeing that this is maybe one or two years too early to win it all, that we’re not good enough on offense, etc. Kemp, Loney, Martin, Billingsley, et al., are perhaps too young for us to depend on for a full season of playoff-level production. There is certainly merit to this point. Likewise, Jones has looked lost at the plate, our 5th spot in the rotation may be a black hole for a few months as it was last year…there’s a lot to be worried about.
However, taking a step back, the sample size of 8 games is too small to be truly scared. One start for Bills, one start for Loiaza, and about 4 games for Kemp; we can’t tell if this is an anomaly (everyone has bad stretches in any season) or an indicator of poor future performance. Things to be optimistic about: Penny, Lowe, and Kuroda are looking fantastic so far; Saito has recovered from his ST; Loney is still consistently hitting; DeWitt is doing as well as can be expected; JP is not starting every day; Furcal is back to his 2006 self, it seems; and I believe we have a lot more reason for faith in this new coaching staff than last year’s.
Finally, look at the four games we have lost. 1 each to Peavy and Haren, nothing to be ashamed of. One because of the rain-delayed debacle. And last night’s loss, in which Billingsley gave up just enough runs to keep the game out of reach later on (of which hopefully we will not see many repeat performances). Getting back to Kuroda tonight, then Penny and Lowe against the Pads rather weak offense, I’m confident this team can get a little streak going. Kemp’s bat seemed to come alive last night, and I think Russell will explode against Owings today.
Here I am calling for patience, AGAIN. I know, it probably gets annoying. But let’s not throw the season out the window based on losing 1 of our first 3 series of the season. No calling for firings, no drastic benchings; let’s see if this team can start working together.

puppy, you’re right about being patient, but Pierre is playing in too many games so far. We won’t be a consistent winner until his role is defined as pinch runner or he is traded. He is an inning killer and his mopey, wobbly body language is a downer.

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